I was invited to present at this year's Creative Enterprise Conference 2011, which took place last Wednesday at The Studio, Birmingham.

2011′s Creative Enterprise Conference gathers together higher education academics that specialise in entrepreneurship within the creative industries, from across the UK and beyond, to discuss how the subject is taught and can continue to develop.

The keynote title was 'What it means to be entrepreneurial and innovative in the creative industries and in the current economic climate'. I spoke openly about the challenges and opportunites that Substrakt has faced throughout the last 4 and a half years, and also about my personal and professional development as a reflection of the company's growth. This included discussing my decision and the benefits of studying for a part time MA in Media Enterprise during the early days of Substrakt Limited.

(More details of the conference can be found on the blog http://creativeconference.wordpress.com/)

The conference was organised by Birmingham City University, who we work closely with on several other projects and initiatives. We have aligned ourselves with these projects to help us gain a deeper understanding of our industry both in the UK and Europe and work closely with the University, and other partners, who can help us to stay innovative and ultimately provide a better service to our clients.

European Creativity Vouchers

This is a fantastic scheme that helps businesses find European partners who can work together to improve service offering, access new networks and markets, share knowledge and skills as well as understand how to trade successfully in Europe.

A Substrakt sucess story that came as a result of this programme was a partnership with German based Hoppala. Hoppala specialise in augmented reality for the mobile, and Substrakt have been working closely with Marc from Hoppala to test and develop new applications for some of our clients.

Another case study result was with Dublin based data visualision experts, more on this here: http://substrakt.co.uk/blog/2010/08/09/dublin-data/

Creative Metropoles

http://www.creativemetropoles.eu/

I've been involved in this project for the last couple of years and have really felt like i've been able to feed directly in to the project outcomes from a creative business perspective. This particular project is coming to a close over the summer, but it sounds like there are more opportunities for similar studies afoot.

The two European visits that i've been on as part of the Creative Metropoles were written up on the blog previously:

http://substrakt.co.uk/blog/2010/10/12/amsterdam-picnic-and-other-things/

http://substrakt.co.uk/blog/2009/09/24/helsinki/

Speed Data

http://speeddata.org.uk/

BCU approached Substrakt to help run an event that focussed on open data and how public sector can understand and make best use of their datasets. We teamed up with Podnosh to help turn this event into a reality and saw our first successful Speed Data event.

More recently we were involved in an event called 'Making (and saving) money with open data' and Gavin Wray from Podnosh wrote about the event and the results.

We are excited about the Speed Data ethos and are continuing to take this forward with both BCU and Podnosh.

We’ve been busy working with Rare, the games designer that produces Kinect sports, as well as legendary titles such as Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark, on the interiors of their Birmingham and Twycross offices. Rare opened a new testing and production facility in Fazeley Studios last year and soon became our neighbours. With their 10,000 sq ft office space and the 25th anniversary rebrand they were keen to implement their new look.

Using a pattern of simple graphic shapes with bright hues we mapped out a series of locations for the designs that flowed around the interesting shapes of the studio space.

During the project we were invited to Twycross to revamp their reception area. Working alongside the Assistant Art Manager at Rare we produced large scale wall graphics and implemented the new identity in the space.

We have available office space for small companies or individuals at our premises in Fazeley Studios, Digbeth. Sharing with the Substrakt team and our existing tenants the space is suitable for anyone looking for a lively, relaxed, creative environment with appropriate levels of privacy, security and 24 hour access.

The Substrakt space itself includes meeting areas with AV equipment, kitchen, sofa area and pool table (with willing competition). A large desk, chair and storage space are also included for each tenant. Utilities, including high-speed internet are included in the rental price.

Fazeley Studios itself houses some of Birmingham's most exciting creative companies and has an on-site brasserie, impressive reception and outdoor courtyard meeting area.

Substrakt's studio tenancy also offers playtime with our own office dog, Dave, your guaranteed place in the tea round, and access to one of the most eclectic collaborative music libraries in the region.

Drop us a line for more information on pricing, availability and leasing terms at andy@substrakt.co.uk